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No. Generally speaking, you should not log on to your spouse’s social media accounts. One exception to that rule would be if you and your spouse shared social media accounts such as Facebook or Instagram, it may still be acceptable for you to use them.

However, if this is not the case, logging on may get you into trouble.

Even if you and your spouse knew each other’s passwords and often logged on to each other’s accounts, you are not entitled to continue doing so after your separation. If you are tempted... MORE »

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If you would normally be able to access their documents in your normal day-to-day routine, this may not constitute spying.

If your spouse has left financial documents around the house or home office, you are allowed to make copies of these statements (as long as these are areas you would normally visit during your day).

However, the court may find that you were spying if you have gone out of your way to find and/or copy your spouse’s documents – even if you believe that they are lying about their finances. Frowned... MORE »

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In some cases, legal fees are deductible. For example, legal fees that are paid to pursue child or spousal support are deductible from the recipient spouse’s income.

The Income Tax Act specifically allows that for the purposes of determining taxable income, a person can deduct any legal and accounting fees (which the legislation collectively calls “professional fees”) that are incurred in the pursuit of a claim for child or spousal support. These professional fees must be deducted in the year during which they are paid. In this way, by deducting those... MORE »

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Parents who receive child support payments are not required to include those payments in their taxable income. Payor parents are not permitted to deduct these child support payments from their taxable income.

The result of this rule is that parents who receive child support payments are able to spend more of their support payments on their children.

There is an exception to this rule if your child support arrangements were made prior to April 30, 1997. If you have an old agreement that was made before 1997, you can elect to have... MORE »

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About Ontario Divorce Help

Ontario Divorce Help is written by Russell Alexander, a divorce and family law lawyer based in Ontario, Canada. For nearly twenty years, Russell's firm has helped clients who are going through a separation or divorce. You can find more of Russell's online commentary via Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or on the firm's Facebook page.